A JOURNAL KEPT IN THE COUNTRY. 63 



and an iron temple of the Particular Baptists, I met 

 the Rector on his rounds and turned homewards with 

 him. Years of acquaintance have never quite re- 

 moved a touch of constraint I feel in his presence- 

 something of an awkwardness one might show in 

 converse with a courtly angel. He is so merely good, 

 so wise by constant proof, so serenely above the 

 common confusions of the world, that it is easy to 

 believe he sees much which we surmise ; " the secret 

 of the Lord " is with him, if anywhere, assuredly. 

 Everything of him, the fine-cut face and clear eyes, 

 the cultured voice and grand manner express the 

 clean strong nature wrought by long inheritances and 

 experience to the height of human accomplishment. 

 He is unfailing in his office and his visiting ; his 

 church is ordered in a rare mean of furniture and 

 ritual ; his sermons overflow with thought, streams of 

 pleasant diction, deep as clear, yet never academic, 

 always vital to the lowest mind : in handling parish 

 matters, in the work of clubs and charities he is 

 always kind, yet clear-headed and strong-handed. 

 Beside him, the clergy of our country seem in general 

 ineffective, to say the least. The several types are 

 well represented in the deanery ; we have the 

 youngish ascetic, unfortunate in his physiognomy, 

 whose experience of the world was gained at one of 



